Showing papers in "EMPIRIA: Revista de Metodología de Ciencias Sociales in 2009"

Patents for invention : setting the stage for the British industrial revolution?

Abstract: La importancia de las patentes para el desarrollo economico en general y para la industrializacion inglesa en particular sigue siendo una cuestion sin resolver a pesar de la intensa investigacion historica que ha tenido lugar en los ultimos veinticinco anos. Este articulo reexamina este debate a la luz de estas investigaciones y de la historia revisionista de la revolucion industrial inglesa. El articulo se centra en la naturaleza y en el funcionamiento del sistema de patentes ingles durante el siglo XVIII y parte del siglo XIX, concretamente hasta la reforma de 1852. En primer lugar se reinterpreta la tendencia al alza en el numero de patentes desde 1762 y coincidiendo con los supuestos anos clasicos de la revolucion industrial. En segundo lugar, se investiga que parte de la actividad inventiva tuvo lugar fuera del sistema de patentes, esto es, no fue capturado en las estadisticas. En tercer lugar, se sugiere que debemos pensar en el sistema de patentes como una tecnologia que, como cualquier otra, fue conformada por las circunstancias en que tuvo lugar su invencion y desarrollo. Este sistema fue el producto de un periodo en el que la propiedad se redefinio como un derecho privado exclusivo. A menos que reconozcamos que una patente crea, ante todo, un derecho de propiedad privada estaremos equivocando el punto de vista. Las patentes tenian que ver tanto con la inversion como con la invencion. En conclusion, este articulo revierte el famoso argumento de Douglass North, y ofrece, en su lugar, el argumento de que fue la revolucion industrial la que creo el marco para el surgimiento del sistema de patentes. The importance of patents for economic development in general and for British industrialization in particular remains an unresolved issue, but one that during the past twenty-five years has benefited from intensive historical research. This paper re-examines the debate in the light both of that research and of revisionist histories of the British industrial revolution. It focuses on the nature and operation of the English patent system during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, prior to its reform in 1852. First, it re-examines the upward trend in patenting that begins in 1762 and coincides neatly but deceptively with the classic industrial revolution. Second, it investigates how much inventive activity was conducted beyond the patent system and is consequently not captured by the patent statistics. Third, it suggests we should think of the patent system as a technology in its own right: as with all technologies, it was shaped by the circumstances of its invention and development. It was a product of a period that was redefining property as subject to exclusively private ownership, and to this «intellectual property» was no exception. Unless we recognise that a patent, first and foremost, created a piece of private property, we are missing the point. Patenting had at least as much to do with investing as inventing; as much to do with capitalism as creativity. In conclusion, the paper reverses Douglass North’s famous causal claim, arguing instead that the industrial revolution «set the stage» for the patent system.

Redes semánticas en textos periodísticos: propuestas técnicas para su representación

Abstract: Este articulo presenta una serie de tecnicas para la construccion de graficos para la representacion de la coaparicion de conceptos o temas en un conjunto de textos. Con ello se pretende estudiar graficamente las conexiones tematicas o semanticas presentes en un determinado discurso, a fin de descubrir no solo los mas frecuentes sino como estan ligados entre si. La idea clave esta en la aplicacion del analisis de redes a las apariciones conjuntas significativas de ideas en un determinado fragmento de texto. Para la explicacion de estas tecnicas se presenta un analisis de los descriptores mas frecuentes correspondientes a la base de datos de la transicion a la democracia espanola recopilada por Linz, compuesta por 76.000 articulos publicados por los principales periodicos de este pais en el periodo comprendido entre 1958 y 1987. This paper shows a set of techniques designed purpose of graph construction aimed at the apparition of either concepts or issues in a collection of texts. The aim is to analyze graphically the semantic connections that can be found in a selected textual corpus as a complement to the study of the statistical frequency of the different elements. The key contribution of this proposal is the use of network analysis for those items that are statistically connected. The use and range of these techniques are shown through the analysis of a database compiled by J.J. Linz composed by more than 76.000 Spanish newspapers articles on the transition to the democracy, published between 1958 and 1987.

Ten Thousand Journal Articles Later: Ethnography of «The Literature» in Science

Abstract: This paper explores the difficulties of reading large numbers of scientific papers when doing the history of 20th century science and technology. It argues that there is a tension between two modes: that of close reading of key papers and that of citation analysis and other automated modes of mapping the literature. The challenge charting between the two and of maintaining an interpretive approach when confronted with a large body of literature (thousands, or tens of thousands of papers) can be met by approaching The Literature as a kind of informant in the anthropological sense. We characterize the literature here as something which can depict the movement of scientific and technical concepts and practices. The paper explores this approach, and suggests ways to track such things as materials and methods sections, the mode of emplotment they employ and the problemetizations they propose or participate in.

La estadística y el curso de la razón pública : compromiso e imparcialidad en un mundo cuantificado

Abstract: Statistics in its mathematical form played a key role in making the social sciences into technical fields, whose claim to objectivity presumed that social science should stand apart from common knowledge and ordinary reasoning. This ideal, which grew up in the twentieth century and especially in the decades around 1950, reconfigured the relations of science (including social science) to the cultures that nurtured it. Statistical social science in the nineteenth-century, though allied to state administration, valued public engagement over disciplined detachment. The elaboration of new ideals of quantification was thus attended by a redefinition of public reason.

Making Scientific objects and setting Standards: values, technology, government and the Enlightenment

Abstract: This paper explores how science became a toolbox for the rationalisation of the monarchy: that is, of the government of the people and of its territories. We will analize how the Earth was transformed in a mensurable, geodesic artefact; how a plant was managed in order to be considered a reliable medicament; and how the notion of patriotic bound was deployed into an algebraic system for accountancy. Nobody like the scientists had dreamt so much of disciplines, instruments and formulas. Nor had anybody shown such an overwhelming passion for translating all problems into symptoms, signs and numbers. And so it was that the state became a scientific question, and science became a matter of state.

Enseñando a hacer entrevistas en investigación cualitativa: entre el oficio, la profesión y el arte

Abstract: A partir del analisis de un taller sobre el uso de entrevistas en investigacion desarrollado en doctorado de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), este articulo argumenta que la ensenanza del uso de esta tecnica exige el despliegue de variadas instancias pedagogicas o interview practica (Kvale 2006) capaces de contribuir a la apropiacion de los aspectos profesionales, creativos y propios del oficio de hacer investigacion cualitativa. La primera parte examina cual es la concepcion del rol de la persona que investiga cualitativamente, la cual subyacio a la seleccion de los contenidos y el diseno pedagogico del taller. Se argumenta que el trabajo de los investigadores cualitativos debe ser entendido como una profesion creativa con una dimension propia de los oficios La segunda seccion analiza las caracteristicas generales del taller y de su poblacion asi como dos tipos de interview practica utilizados: los ejercicios individuales y las guias de discusion. Se examina como estas instancias pedagogicas contribuyeron a la apropiacion practica, por parte de los/as estudiantes, de un habitus de investigacion que promueve disposiciones y orientaciones a la accion reflexivas, eticas, profesionales y creativas. This article examines a module on interviewing in social sciences at the Doctoral programme in Social Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). It argues that teaching this research technique demands the use of a variety of pedagogic devices or interview practica (Kvale 2006). They facilitate the acquisition of the crafty, professional and creative aspects of qualitative research. Firstly, this paper examines the nature of the role of the qualitative researcher that underpinned the selection of contents and the pedagogic organisation of the module. It argues that the job of qualitative researchers should be understood as a profession with crafty and creative dimensions. Secondly, this article depicts the module, its population and two types of interview practice: individual exercises and discussion guides. These pedagogic devices are examined. Evidence of their contribution to the practical acquisition of a research habitus is presented. This habitus instils reflexive, professional, ethical and creative attitudes and dispositions in doctoral students, crucial for their professional development.

Invención, nacionalismo tecnológico y progreso: el discurso de la propiedad industrial en la España del siglo XIX

Abstract: Resumen es: El articulo estudia el discurso elaborado en los espacios de la propiedad industrial durante el siglo XIX espanol. Se presta especial atencion a la conce...

La complejidad de tarea de las ocupaciones

Abstract: Resumen es: Las ocupaciones tienen al menos tres componentes claramente diferenciables: los relacionados con su dificultad como actividad, los relacionados con su co

Cómo hacer ciencia con aparatos. Un enfoque materialista de la física cuántica

Abstract: The emphases on scientific practice, coming originally from the sociology of science and, more recently, from the history and philosophy of science, is producing a dramatically new view of science. Scientific practice draws into the orbit of science not only theories and models but also facts, instruments, apparatus, machines and human beings. The aim of this paper is to analyse the experimentalist trend of thinking about quantum physics. I explain three points of view: the sociological by Andrew Pickering, the epistemological by Ian Hacking, and the ontological by Gustavo Bueno. They aim to turn from representation to experimentation and manipulation. What distinguishes these views from the traditional one is that they do not see science as construction in conceptual and linguistic terms but rather as a social and material activity.

El análisis de la literatura biomédica en España en clave de diversidad cultural y de género

Abstract: En este trabajo proponemos la practica de la metainvestigacion como herramienta de revision y analisis de las publicaciones cientificas. Este concepto hace referencia a la necesidad de reflexionar y evaluar criticamente que y como se investiga como estrategia fundamental de avance cientifico. Hemos centrado nuestro interes en el campo de la biomedicina y en su estudio del proceso de salud-enfermedad-atencion en inmigrantes de origen extranjero. Nuestro objetivo es analizar como son seleccionadas, construidas y abordadas las cuestiones cientificamente relevantes sobre esta poblacion, y especificamente, como afectan los sesgos derivados del etnocentrismo/etnicismo y del androcentrismo/sexismo a este proceso y a sus resultados. Para ello, analizamos desde la diversidad cultural y el genero los articulos cientificos sobre inmigracion publicados desde 1984 a 2006 indexados en el Indice Medico Espanol-CSIC. El modo en que son definidas las tematicas sanitaria y academicamente significativas responde, en gran parte de los articulos, a visiones etnocentricas y androcentricas que, ademas de reforzar estereotipos y desigualdades sociales en salud, implica limitaciones en la validez y rigor cientificos, con las consecuencias que esto conlleva en su transferencia a la practica sanitaria. In this paper, metaresearch is proposed as a tool for review and analysis of scientific publications. This concept refers to the need of critically evaluate and reflect what and how people research as a fundamental strategy of scientific progress. Our interest is situated in the field of the biomedicine and the study of health-illness-care process in foreign immigrants. The objective is to analyse how scientifically relevant questions about this population are selected, constructed and broached. Specifically, we aim to evaluate how ethnocentric/ethnicist and andocentric/sexist biases affect this process and its results. We analyse from a cultural diversity and gender perspective the scientific articles on immigration published from 1984 to 2006 indexed in the Spanish Medical Index-CSIC. In the majority of the articles, the definition of the sanitary and academic significant questions responds to ethnocentric and androcentric visions that strengthen social stereotypes and inequalities. Furthermore, they involve limitations of scientific rigour and validity, with consequences in the sanitary practice.